I have a 5 month old 70 gallon lagoon tank. It seems to be doing ok, but not great. I have no signs of coralline algae, some corals are thriving and looking great, while other's of the same type are suffering and dyeing. The coral that is looking great isn't showing signs of growth. I know it's a young tank so I wasn't stressing much. I figured an ICP test would help find what was lacking and I could make the proper adjustments. But the ICP test shows, what in my novice opinion, is a lot of metals.
I've read through some previous post and I'm currently trying to ready Randy Holmes-Farley's article titled "Reef Aquaria with Low Soluble Metals". I'm no chemist and that is a painful read at my education level.
About the tank:
70 gallon tank with sump.
65 gallon total water after sand/LR
Roller Filter
Skimmer
Refugium section in sump
1 MarinePure Block 8"x8"x4" (in refugium section)
25 MarinePure Block 2"x2"x2" (in skimmer/roller filter section of sump)
Canister filter running GFO & Carbon
Canister filter running AquaForest 'Life Bio Fil'
Dose AquaForest 3 part daily using Peristaltic Pump
Low to medium fish load
Rock was all dry store bought (base rock)
Aquaforest Live sand
(I have a build thread that wasn't completed)
My questions:
Is the MarinePure blocks the cause of the metals?
How do I get them out of my tank?
Additional information:
*All my corals are LPS, I tried a few SPS frags with no success. I figured I would let the tank mature before trying them again.
*My nitrates are running around 40 and as you can see I have no phosphates. I was ignorantly using AquaForest NitraPhos Minus until I learned the relationship between nitrates and phosphates. I have just started dosing phosphates (NeoPhos) to see if they will come down naturally with the addition of phosphates. I do have chaeto and some other naturally occurring algae in my sump.
*I am just getting back into the hobby after 12 years. Everything is very different and my knowledge of old ways is fragmented memories which seems to make me more dangerous than a newbie.
I've read through some previous post and I'm currently trying to ready Randy Holmes-Farley's article titled "Reef Aquaria with Low Soluble Metals". I'm no chemist and that is a painful read at my education level.
About the tank:
70 gallon tank with sump.
65 gallon total water after sand/LR
Roller Filter
Skimmer
Refugium section in sump
1 MarinePure Block 8"x8"x4" (in refugium section)
25 MarinePure Block 2"x2"x2" (in skimmer/roller filter section of sump)
Canister filter running GFO & Carbon
Canister filter running AquaForest 'Life Bio Fil'
Dose AquaForest 3 part daily using Peristaltic Pump
Low to medium fish load
Rock was all dry store bought (base rock)
Aquaforest Live sand
(I have a build thread that wasn't completed)
My questions:
Is the MarinePure blocks the cause of the metals?
How do I get them out of my tank?
Additional information:
*All my corals are LPS, I tried a few SPS frags with no success. I figured I would let the tank mature before trying them again.
*My nitrates are running around 40 and as you can see I have no phosphates. I was ignorantly using AquaForest NitraPhos Minus until I learned the relationship between nitrates and phosphates. I have just started dosing phosphates (NeoPhos) to see if they will come down naturally with the addition of phosphates. I do have chaeto and some other naturally occurring algae in my sump.
*I am just getting back into the hobby after 12 years. Everything is very different and my knowledge of old ways is fragmented memories which seems to make me more dangerous than a newbie.
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